The Colorado Railroad Museum!

On our recent trip to New York, we stopped at the Colorado Railroad Museum on the way home. The museum is located on 15 acres in Golden, Colorado, near Denver. The museum has over 100 locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, and cabooses. There is a G scale garden railroad that was fun to see operating.
We were there on June 22, 2024 and this was Colorado Power Days which meant one of the steam locomotives would be pulling a train loaded with visitors around the track. After getting our tickets at the 1880’s replica depot, we went downstairs where the Denver HO Model Railroad Club has its operating layout.
The Club’s layout consists of standard gauge, narrow gauge and an interurban. The Denver & Western, the Phantom Canyon, the Denver Intermountain, and the Crystal River Railway represent what you might have seen in Denver and the Front Range in the 1950s.
Diner Car No. 4801 was one of 17 built in the 4800 series of dining cars known as Dry Ice Diners and featured 12 tables with seating for 48 people. UP Dining Car No. 4801 operated from 1949 to 1971 when it was retired and sold to the Boise Cascade Society in Boise, Idaho. BCS held on to the car until 1979 when it was sold to the Rio Grande as a spare for the Silver Banquet, the original dining car on the Rio Grande Zephyr. The dining car operated for four more years until 1983 when it was sold to the Xanterra Corporation.
In April 2011 the Colorado Railroad Museum acquired UP Dining Car No. 4801 from the Xanterra Corporation.
Located outdoors in the Railyard, just north of the main Depot building, the Denver Garden Railway Society’s outdoor garden railroad is one of the largest public garden railroad layouts in the U.S. The Club’s operating garden railroad features two different track gauges, a number of scales, buildings, carefully maintained landscaping, and even a loop for operating scale live steam locomotives! This layout is operated whenever members of DGRS are available, and during special events.
The last operational F-unit on the Rio Grande, F9 Diesel Engine No. 5771 powered the Rio Grande Zephyr passenger train between Denver and Salt Lake City from 1971 to 1983. The Rio Grande Zephyr was the last non-Amtrak intercity passenger train in the United States. In 1984 Nos. 5771 & 5762 powered the Ski Train between Denver to Winter Park. Both were retired that year.
This C&S rotary snowplow operated over a number of Colorado mountain lines from 1899 until 1965. Large spinning blades on the front threw snow high and far to either side of the track, clearing the way for trains. Power to spin the rotary blades was generated by a steam engine located in the plow. The plow cannot move itself and must be pushed by locomotives.
The turntable came from the end of a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad branch line at St. Francis, Kansas. It is 74 feet long and was built in 1900 by the American Bridge Company of Chicago. A sophisticated center bearing and counterbalance system allows two individuals to easily rotate a car or locomotive by pushing on the arms or “cheaters.”
The Cornelius W. Hauck Roundhouse was completed in 2000 and is named after one of the Museum’s founders. It has five stalls and houses the tools and equipment needed to restore and repair rolling stock. In the roundhouse today is D&RGW 491, an operating coal burning steam locomotive of the K-37 class. 493 operates on the Durango & Silverton Railroad and 492 is being restored to service by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
Colorado is synonymous with narrow gauge railroads and there are several examples of rolling stock in the yard from the Denver & Rio Grande Western including reefers, cattle cars, and Gramps oil tankers.
Because it was Power Day, RGS 20 was doing the honors of pulling the train around the yard with passengers. Built in 1899, RGS No. 20 ran on the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad southwest of Pikes Peak. Named Portland after a profitable mine in the Cripple Creek District, No. 20 hauled freight and passengers. It was sold to Rio Grande Southern in 1916 after flash floods destroyed much of the F&CC, putting that line out of business. In operation until 1951, No. 20 was purchased by the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club and eventually donated to the Museum. The Locomotive recently returned to Colorado from an extended restoration trip to Pennsylvania. RGS 20 was also featured in the Victorian Iron Horse Roundup held by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in 2021.
These are just a sample of the exhibits at the Colorado Railroad Museum and it is worth a visit! Please like this video and subscribe to our channel!
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[@DomAZ]

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

[@YardLimit]

Thanks for watching!

[@SpotterCrazyperson]

Great video

[@YardLimit]

Thanks!

[@rupak-travelmoments]

It's definitely a very interesting coverage !! Greetings from India.

[@YardLimit]

Glad you liked it!

[@wolfgangpfeilergartenbahnd6530]

Hello Thomas, an interesting tour with explanations through the Colorado Railroad Museum. Very nice exhibits of locomotives and carriages. The narrow gauge train with the locomotive #20 is great. Particularly on the garden railway are the two green Saxon four K locomotives from LGB and the Rio grande F nose locomotives in the original and model. Thanks for showing and kind regards. Wolfgang

[@YardLimit]

Thanks, Wolfgang. Cool that you recognized the Saxon locomotives!

[@atsfevan0242]

I had just visited that museum myself about 2 weeks before you were there. You sure weee lucky to see the model trains and 20 running as they weren't when I visited. I'll definitely be back someday to see 20, 491 and eventually 346 when it's back in operation.

[@YardLimit]

I was lucky! Thanks for watching and I hope you get to see at least one of the steam engines next time you go.

[@atsfevan0242]

@@YardLimit mhm

[@Sunset4Semaphores]

I'm surprised no one includes the Delhi Wig Wag in these museum review videos. I'm beginning with the wonder what's wrong with the Wig Wag's presentation :(

[@YardLimit]

Damn! I forgot it was there! I did go shoot video of it before it was taken down though. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5zNdKF5pLeKoZI

[@GhostbustersFrozenEmpire2024]

I agree matthew